Definitely 10 middling games (grading on the Gamer Curve, I’m taking “middling” to mean low-to-mid 80s on Metacritic). Thinking of it in terms of specific studios, I’d much rather be Obsidian than CDProjekt. Being a reliable workhorse with consistently good output with a dedicated fanbase but never getting a massive mainstream breakthrough Greatest Of All Time game that builds ridiculous expectations would be far better for my humility and sanity.
The BOTW/Horizon 1 comparison was more fun and compelling, since apart from the release window proximity both games had oddly similar post-post robot apocalypse settings with a protagonist made special through their possession of ancient technology and relationship with the Before Times, plus a strong emphasis on bow combat. ER/Horizon 2 is just a case of timing and pot-stirring.
If we must compare the two, I hope the industry lesson is "hey, open world games can be different things, let's get weird" and not "Elden Ring is now The One True Way." I've been largely having a good time with Elden Ring (and eaten a helping heaping of crow in the process based on my previous negative Souls stance), but while it mostly works in the context of all the other mechanics at play, its overarching open world design philosophy is not a big contributor to my enjoyment. I really hope we don't see a bunch of soulless (pun not intended) slapdash attempts to replicate it from other studios as the next big trend. But based on how the industry learned the shallowest lessons from previous generation-defining fantasy open world games (i.e. Skyrim and BOTW), I'm not very optimistic.
If I had to pick a game to play for the rest of my life, I'd probably go with Skyrim. It's not my favorite game, not even my favorite Bethesda game, but it's got that formula I crave and the healthiest mod scene of any of their games. I would die of old age before I ran out of new content to play around with.
@cyrribrae: @liquiddragon: Yikes, I stand corrected. I knew they had the challenge stuff in place, but I didn't realize it had full-on streak bonuses and tiered rewards. Nevertheless, I shall remain resolute in leaving that money on the table--it's been a long time since I was anything close to an achievement hunter and the gamification of playing games continues to feel like a plot element in a bad dystopian satire that escaped into the real world that I want nothing to do with.
@undeadpool: Every chance things have changed in recent years and there’s a Jason Schreier expo in the works, but as far as I’m aware Bethesda Game Studios has a reputation for not being a crunch studio.
Yeah that sucks. Despite a lot of people saying “called it,” I’m legitimately surprised…the “they haven’t shown much, a delay is inevitable” calculus generally hasn’t applied to BethSoft’s strategy for marketing cycles.
I am gobsmacked Microsoft hasn't done something like this officially as part of their Microsoft Rewards program. I know they already have a "login bonus" for playing a Game Pass game every day, but an achievement streak with tiered rewards for how long you maintain it seems like the exact sort of vaguely evil engagement tactic they would salivate over.
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